Skinny Bear

One of my lovely University friends is also expecting a baby, about 2 weeks before me!  As part of a gift, I thought I would put my hand at crocheting something for the baby so that it would be unique.  She doesn't know the sex of the baby which, although exciting, made colour choice a bit more difficult.  I decided to opt for red with a navy stripe for the teddy's tee shirt in the end as I thought that was acceptably unisex!

This is the pattern I followed from Crafty Rah Rah.  I loved the teddy when I saw him so thought I would try. 

Well the head and the ears worked up well - I used Sirdar baby bamboo wool.  The legs also seemed okay, although when attached looked a wee bit wonky and not quite right!  The body I struggled with!...I did it twice and it ended up as big as a hat!  I was convinced I was interpreting the pattern right, but it was so disheartening I admit I lost my mojo.  I drafted in my sister to help with the body and arms and she helped explain the pattern instructions to me.

With all pieces made, I lightly stuffed, and sewed on all appendages!  Here he is...

 Sorry for the poor photo but you get the idea...can you see his legs look wonky...maybe one bigger than the other?!

He was well received and has now been aptly named "Skinny Bear"...hmmm...maybe I did stuff him too lightly!!!  The wonkiness adds individuality...and I explained that when he's being shook (which babies do to their teddies) he looks much better all wobbly a little bit like Mr Bean's teddy!  I did also explain that this has not been tested for safety...so they can't sue me if his legs/arms come off!!!!

I may even attempt another...at some point....

Love from me and my little man x

Baby blanket

At last I can finally say that I have finished a blanket!!  Usually the routine goes that I make a start and then decide I don't like the colours, decide it's way too big and generally get bored of crocheting along.  But this...I have finished! The things that got me through this wooly project were a) knowing that it was going to be a pram blanket for my pending arrival, b) using 3x strands of wool meaning that it is a chunky, fast growing blanket, and c) loving the colour combination.  I think the saving grace was that it was intended to be small, so it wasn't such a big commitment in my head. 

I enjoyed making this one, and it actually gave me a valid chance to put my feet up and chill out for  a bit (whilst still being under the guise of being "productive"!!).

I am an avid fan of Pintrest as there is so much inspiration to trawl through.  This is where I got my original pattern from.  I think this blanket is funky and different.  Blanket Pattern here.


Here is my project in pictures...

Making a start whilst the rhubarb and raspberry crumble is cooking in the oven...

Growing quickly...just like me tummy in the picture...

Getting some crocheting time whilst sitting in the sunny garden with my mum and sister...it's growing...

It was at this point that I had those feelings of doubt...the wool kept un-ravelling, remaining balls getting smaller and smaller and  I did the terrible thing of not keeping the labels!  Would I be able to match up the colours? How much more would I need?!  So on return home, I set out to our local (as in 2mins walk down the road) wool shop Knit Stitch N Craft  and me and the kind lady set about matching colours.  I managed to find the beige and the green (last balls hidden on the shelf!) and the blue we got a very very close match that would suffice...and indeed you cannot tell the change in the blanket.  The visit to that shop gave me more motivation to carry on and taught me one of the big lessons of always keeping your labels!!!

 Loving the chunkiness of this...I used an 8.0mm hook by the way...

 And here it is...Ta-Dah!  Hanging over the cot ready for baby to arrive...

 I considered a border...but then decided that it looked funky and finished without one.  I love the colours...I was dubious about adding the beige wool...but actually it helps to tone down the blue/green.

I am now onto my next hooky project....

Love from me and my little man x

Pig

Things have been cosy here. 

I’ve loved curling up in my new fluffy slippers…

Drinking gallons of tea from my lovely new mugs (Christmas present from my husband!), that have sat on my beautiful new coasters (present from Santa)…

…and enjoying some crochet.

Last year I was ever so lucky to have had something made especially for me, by one of my friends’ mums!  I think it the most fabulous way to carry my wool for my current projects.  Portable and pretty!

It’s been tasked with keeping all the pieces together in a safe place for my latest project…

So what has been my latest project I hear you ask?  Well I set off to make an amigurimi (that word always looks more akin to something from a sushi menu for sure!) toy for my little man, and then through conversation at work and an upcoming birthday for my friends’ girl, I thought I could make it for her instead…and so my poor little man has missed out again!  I really need to set down and make something solely for him.

We always are talking about which character is the most favoured at anyone time.  My little man’s been going through phases of Noddy, Peppa Pig, Postman Pat and the Snowman.  I get quite excited at the thought of the acceptance of a new character as it introduces a bit of variety for me after having to sit watching about 100 Noddy episodes!  My friends girl currently also likes Peppa Pig, and I understand that was to be the basis of her birthday cake.  So…I set about making a Pig! A George Pig…as apparently she likes him best.

I got lost in the pattern found here.  Quite a nice easy to follow pattern.  I enjoy the quick progress projects, however after I did two attempts of both arms and legs I did start losing the will to carry on…but then after a break, and another cup of tea, the pattern somehow made sense to me again.  Here he is in all his George Pig glory!…

I particularly love his little curly tail…

So, another successful project! Woo hoo!

It’s started raining again here.  As I look out of my living room window I am impressed with how my amaryllis is growing…  I love the pot it’s in.  Colours our lounge are to be based on when we get around to starting the decorating!

Cheerio for now.

Love from me and my little man x

Wellies and Willies….

We went for a lovely walk last weekend for a bit of fresh air.  We are so lucky to live with the New Forest on our doorstep and lovely countryside just a 5minute walk from our house. 

We came across a few creatures and critters… some big and some small…

Blue skies and countryside.  I love that crispy fresh biting air, when it’s cold, but the sun shines warming you through. 

On a slightly different note, this weekend I’ve been on a hen do of one of my lovely Uni friends.  We went to Milton Keynes for an afternoon of sledging and an evening of 80s fancy dress partying!  Sledging was hilariously good fun requiring quite a lot of energy to run back up the slopes.  The little kids made it look effortless. I felt like I was a snow queen…but had more style than speed. Actually it was less style and less speed! There were a few collisions, none were life threatening thankfully!

So after an afternoon of extreme sledging, out came the heels and legwarmers, the back combing and hair spray and we were ready to Parrrrtay!  Here I am in my 80s gear.

There had to be a surprise appearance from someone else for this hen do…remember my post here…it was the tales of an adventurous lone willy crafted by yours truly.  Well, true to form, I was obliged to get crafting again…

This time I chose to crochet this Willy…tediously amusing.  Here he is…a slightly bigger, fluffier version than before…

This is when he was presented to the bride to be…he stayed cosy there all night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fabulously fun weekend, and I feel I need a weekend to recover!  I have one of my Uni friends left to get married next year, so I’ll have to start pondering my next version! Hmmm……

Love from me and my little man x

Cheap Hooker…

I’ve been quiet lately, but I have been steadily continuing with my granny stripe blanket in the evenings and am seeing some good progress.  I am at the stage of feeling a bit disheartened that I didn’t plan my wool purchases pre-project so I am making do with the colours I had and the colours I found along the way…  They are not my chosen ideal colours, but I think they do work together well, in that rainbow kind of way!  I shall keep crochet-ing on.  It’s very loooooooooooong…it may take a while…….

My best friend came down on the weekend, and she has taken inspiration and borrowed her mums sewing machine.  That’s all she’s done… so far!  But she has plans to set it up, to re-learn winding of the bobbins etc. and then she’ll be on her way.  We were chit chattering away, and keen to give crochet a go, I gave her some wool and a hook and she followed the pattern for the granny stripe.  There were ups, and there were definitely some downs!  We bodged here and dodged there…but in the end she accomplished this…!

Not bad at all for an ad-hoc try. She enjoyed doing it and she thinks she’s going to get a hook and give it a go…  My sister suggested buying some cheap wool…and then she could be a cheap hooker! That did make us giggle…

On the side, I’ve been looking for some inspiration for sewing projects and I have a few things written down to get my teeth into… they should be fun.

The snow’s all melted, the sun was (dare I say it) shining yesterday and I had a spring like feel in my step.  I am looking forward to sunnier times…

Love from me and my little man x

Mae hi’n bwrw eira… (It’s snowing…)

 

They said it was coming…and it did...SNOW!  A light dusting at 6am (time dictated by the little man…) turned to a few inches by 8/9am. I don’t mind getting up early, snuggling into a quilt in my PJ’s with a fresh cup of tea, lights down low, watching the snow…it’s just so peaceful.  Everything feels more cosy indoors, and time seems to slow.  I enjoy seeing the news reports from up and down the country, the status updates on facebook…it’s like a gossip grapevine with one thing on everyone’s mind.  There’s an air of excitement and then you get plagued with thoughts of how long it’ll last…

Me and my little man had a day at home today.  My big man ummed and ahhhed for a while…and he ended up working at home.  Nice to be all together…

This is the view from my crafting conservatory… Our very own wintery kingdom. 

It was freeeezing in there…although the snow occluded the roof panels so it made me feel like I was in my own igloo.

It was little man’s first snow, so we had to get him togged up to go outside to see what he made of the fluffy white stuff.  We put his snowsuit on, a very funky hat, a pair of daddies socks (which made him look like grandpa longstockings!), and we had no wellies/boots…so we found some wet-suit type shoes given to us from our cousin, and they did the job.  Out we went…

 

  He looks like he’s enjoying!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My beautiful blue-eyed boy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Ready to go back indoors to get toasty and warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think he loved it…for the 10mins before he got cold and hungry! I hope as he grows so will his tolerance, so that we can embark on the adventures of snowmen and sledging!

The atmosphere suited some crafting today… Unfortunately I wasn’t feel so good, so I started a sewing project (I will give you a squeak preview soon)…but I retreated to the sofa with my crochet in hand.  It felt very right to be crocheting a woollen blanket today…

Here it is all curled up…  I’m going for a granny stripe…I’m really enjoying the rhythm of this blanket…I’m finding it quite relaxing…

 

 

 

 

Purples/Pinks so far…I need to buy some more wool…I’m going to enjoy choosing the colours, however I feel I’ll probably be pondering for a while!

 

So that’s a sneak of what I’ve done today.  I know I said my granny square would be my first blanket…but actually I think this one will!  We’ll see which one makes it to the finish line first.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the snow.  Wrap up warm and stay safe.

Love from me and my little man x

Crochet-a-go-go

 

I am loving exploring my new sewing projects, however sometimes I wish it would be more of a sociable hobby. Aside from the gossiping and blogging side of sewing, it can be quite a solitary sport often being engrossed and squirreled away in the crafting corner.

I love listening to music (all kinds) and I love choosing some tunes to play during a sewing session.   Music influences my mood greatly.  In the cd player at the moment is the album “What Sound” by Lamb (my ultimate favourite – also my first gig as they were supporting Moby in Manchester). 

Sometimes though…I just want to chat.  My sister would agree with me I think.  I like to  talk.  I like company.

I have already contemplated the merits of planning sewing projects in order to have a couple on the go at one time so that I could do bulk cutting, bulk hand-sewing etc. which could be done in the living room.  I’m not sure this will work for me…well not yet.  I like to complete/finish one thing before moving onto the next so the idea of skipping here and there with projects is daunting.  There are also times where I am away on holiday and need a more sociable and portable hobby in order to stay productive, and enjoy the company of others.  My sister recommended Crochet, and she left me a 4.00mm hook (pretty pastel pink) and a small ball of yarn (also pink) in my Christmas gift hamper to get me started!

I did a bit of googling… crumbs Crocheting speak is a complete foreign language.  I made sure to stick with UK rules from the start so as not to get too muddled.

I looked at some tutorials for beginners at Crochet Hooks You. These made much more sense when I was following with my own yarn in hand.  My sister and mum have tried showing me before, I manage a chain and then everything goes down hill! I think the difficulty was understanding what the “holes” were…I just couldn’t see these “stitches”.  So I’ve been practicing and persevering and so far I have been able to follow tutorials to make a teeny tiny heart and a granny square following Attic 24’s tutorials which are quite easy to follow (with photographic steps also).  You can check out Attic 24’s tutorials and blog here – it’s full of colourful inspiration.

I picked up 3 coloured balls of wool at the shop the other day:  deep fuscia, a dark purple, and a lilac.  They are all DK (Double Knit), they are 100% acrylic and they are machine washable at 40 and cool tumble.  My granny squares look cute in these colours, so as I’m practicing, these first granny squares will go in my maiden blanket! They’re all slightly different size – I must have different tension or an extra stitch here and there…but I’m sure I can use them. A social project for the days I want company.

 

In amongst doing granny squares my eyes have drifted towards Amigurumi.  Just to keep me entertained, I managed to create this little fella….

“Flippit”- Bunny Amigurimi VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I followed this pattern, after discovering the treasures on ravelry.com.  He’s “Flippit”, a little bunny with a pom pom tail…  Timber did start to attack when he started to make himself comfy on the chair so he didn’t stay there for long.

I then started to make a kitten amigurimi to test myself, but within dashing in/out to check the cottage pie I was making, I rather lost count of my spirals and the head turned out massive in comparison to the body.  I was going to unravel…but then I slip stitched the bottom together and it kind of resembled ears…so I was going to transform it into an owl…but then I thought it could be a cat of sorts…. I messed up the whiskers on the right side, and the ears aren’t really big enough to be ears…and it is a bit weird to have made a cat head… but he’s made and he shall be called “Pickles”.

The beginnings of my crochet adventure…I have a long way to go… but I’ve made a start…

Love from me and my little man x